2<\/strong>. And now<\/em>, &c.] The present race is no better; they go on adding to their guilt.<\/p>\n idols according to their own understanding<\/em> ] Sarcastically. Sept., Targ., Vulg., however, read ‘according to the pattern of idols’ (there could be no art, then, in these repetitions of archaic images).<\/p>\n they say of them<\/em>, &c.] This part of the verse is very difficult; it will be best to clear up first the meaning of the closing words. There are two rival renderings, ‘sacrificers of men, they kiss calves’ (so substantially the Sept., the Vulg., Rashi, Aben Ezra, Calvin, Horsley, Kuenen), and human sacrificers, they kiss calves<\/strong> (so Kimchi and many moderns). Either rendering implies a strong touch of sarcasm. In the first case, it is the strange perversity of slaying men and kissing calves which the prophet lashes; in the second, the affront to human reason in doing homage to dumb animals. The objection to the former explanation is the fact that human sacrifices were not, so far as we know, offered to the calf- or rather steer-gods, and indeed were hardly known in the land of Israel before the time of Ahaz (2Ki 16:3<\/span>). Besides, would the prophet have referred to such abominable cruelty in such a casual way, more, as has been well said, in a vein of satire than of indignation? Now let us turn to the opening words of the sentence. The parallelism in this and the following verse is so thoroughly carried out, that for symmetry’s sake we can hardly help rendering, unto such<\/strong> [the idols] do they speak.<\/strong> The sarcasm is as manifest here as in the following words; what can be more absurd than to address vows and prayers to the worshippers’ own handiwork, to things ‘which have mouths, and speak not.’ The objection is, that the meaning ‘speak’ is not a common one for ’mar<\/em> (properly ‘to say’), but Psa 4:5<\/span> shows that the verb in question may be used absolutely, even in classical Hebrew. It is possible however that there is a corruption, and that we should read, for instance, for ‘speak’ (or ‘say’), ‘burn incense.’<\/p>\n kiss<\/em> ] ‘Kiss’, viz. as a sign of adoration or homage, by a transition like that in the usage of . So whenever ( a<\/em>) idols, or ( b<\/em>) supposed divine beings, or ( c<\/em>) kings are referred to; comp. ( a<\/em>) 1Ki 19:18<\/span>, ( b<\/em>) Job 31:27<\/span>, ( c<\/em>) Psa 2:12<\/span> (Gen 41:40<\/span>; 1Sa 10:1<\/span> can hardly be quoted here). The ‘kiss’ of adoration consisted sometimes, as in Job l.c.<\/em>, in kissing the hand towards the idol (comp. again). For the kiss of homage, comp. the Assyrian phrase ‘they kissed my feet.’<\/p>\n the calves<\/em> ] i.e., the small images of an ox, such as are referred to in 1Ki 12:28<\/span>.<\/p>\n And now they sin more and more – <\/B>Sin draws on sin. This seems to be a third stage in sin. First, under Jeroboam, was the worship of the calves. Then, under Ahab, the worship of Baal. Thirdly, the multiplying of other idols (see 2Ki 17:9-10<\/span>), penetrating and pervading the private life, even of their less wealthy people. The calves were of gold; now they made them molten images of their silver, perhaps plated with silver. In Egypt, the mother of idolatry, it was common to gild idols, made of wood, stone, and bronze. The idolatry, then, had become more habitual, daily, universal. These idols were made of their silver; they themselves had had them molten out of it. Avaricious as they were (see the note above 2Ki 12:7-8<\/span>), they lavished their silver, to make them their gods. According to their own understanding, they had had them formed. They employed ingenuity and invention to multiply their idols. They despised the wisdom and commands of God who forbad it. The rules for making and coloring the idols were as minute as those, which God gave for His own worship. Idolatry had its own vast system, making the visible world its god and picturing its operations, over against the worship of God its Creator. But it was all, their own understanding: The conception of the idol lay in its makers mind. It was his own creation. He devised, what his idol should represent; how it should represent what his mind imagined; he debated with himself, rejected, chose, changed his choice, modified what he had fixed upon; all according to his own understanding. Their own understanding devised it; the labor of the craftsmen completed it.<\/P> All of it the work of the craftsmen – <\/B>What man could do for it, he did. But man could not breathe into his idols the breath of life; there was then no spirit, nor life, nor any effluence from any higher nature, nor any deity residing in them. From first to last it was all mans work; and mans own wisdom was its condemnation. The thing made must be inferior to its maker. made man, inferior to Himself, but lord of the earth, and all things therein; man made his idol of the things of earth, which God gave him. It too then was inferior to its maker, man. He then worshiped in it, the conception of his own mind, the work of his own hands.<\/P> They say of them – <\/B>Strictly, Of them, (i. e., of these things, such things, as these,) they, say, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves. The prophet gives the substance or the words of Jeroboams edict, when he said, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem, behold thy gods, O Israel. Whoever would sacrifice, let him do homage to the calves. He would have calf-worship to be the only worship of God. Error, if it is strong enough, ever persecutes the truth, unless it can corrupt it. Idol-worship was striving to extirpate the worship of God, which condemned it. Under Ahab and Jezebel, it seemed to have succeeded. Elijah complains to God in His own immediate presence; the children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, thrown down Thine altars, and slain Thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I, only am left, and they seek my life, to take it away 1Ki 19:10<\/U><\/span>, 1Ki 19:14<\/span>. Kissing was an act of homage in the East, done upon the hand or the foot, the knees or shoulder. It was a token of divine honor, whether to an idol (1Ki 19:18<\/span> and here,) or to God Psa 2:12<\/span>. It was performed, either by actually kissing the image, or when the object could not be approached, (as the moon) kissing the hand Job 31:26-27<\/span>, and so sending, as it were, the kiss to it. In the Psalm, it stands as a symbol of worship, to be shown toward the Incarnate Son, when God should make Him King upon His holy hill of Sion.<\/P> <\/p>\n Hos 13:2<\/span><\/p>\n They sin more and more.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Steps in apostasy<\/strong><\/p>\n There is no stop in apostasy. Let men once apostatise from God, there is no stop then; they cannot tell whither they may go, when once they begin to roll down. Steps in an apostates departure from God are–<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Some slight sin against knowledge, though never so little, for sin of mere infirmity I cannot call apostasy; but if it be ever so little a sin against knowledge, it breaks the bond of obedience. When you will venture to do that which you know is against God, this bond of obedience being broken, no marvel though you fall, and sin more and more.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Every act of sin tends to increase the habit. Corruption grows by acting; as with grace, every act of grace extends grace in the heart of a man; and the way to grow in grace is to act grace much; so that when you are acting your grace, you do not only that which is your duty, but you are growing in grace: so when you are acting of corruption, you are, not only doing that which is evil, but you are increasing the tendency to it; and therefore every sin that causes us to decline from God, makes us to go more and more from God.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>Every sin against conscience weakens the work of conscience. The authority of conscience will quickly be weakened when it is once broken; break but off the yoke of conscience, and conscience will be weaker than it was before. The first time a man sins against conscience, his conscience, having a great deal of strength in it, mightily troubles him; but having had a flaw, as it were, it grows weaker. Every sin does somewhat weaken conscience, and therefore one that falls off from God will sin more and more.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>A man loses his comfort in God according to the degree of his departure from Him.<\/p>\n 5. <\/strong>When one has sinned against God, holy duties become very unsuitable to his soul. It is a more difficult thing to engage his heart in them than before, and so he comes to neglect duties, and by neglecting them his corruption grows.<\/p>\n 6. <\/strong>The presence of God is terrible to an apostate. He cannot think of God without some terror; before he would often think and speak of God, but now he puts off the thoughts of God. It must needs be that he must wander up and down even more and more, be as a Cain wandering away from the presence of God.<\/p>\n 7. <\/strong>The thoughts of whatsoever might turn an apostates heart to God are <\/strong>grievous to him.<\/p>\n 8. <\/strong>One sin cannot be maintained without another. As now, you find when one man has done wrong to another, he knows not how to carry it out but by doing him more wrong, to crush him if he can. And so there are many sins that have other sins depending upon them. If a man be engaged in a business that is sinful, in order that he may carry it on successfully, he must commit a great many other sins, and so fall off more and more.<\/p>\n 9. <\/strong>The pride of mens hearts is such that they will attempt to justify transgression. Men love to justify what they have done; when they have sinned, they will grow more resolute and violent, that all people might think that their hearts recoil not in the least.<\/p>\n 10. <\/strong>When men have gone far in sin, they grow desperate. They little hope ever to recover themselves, and therefore sin more and more.<\/p>\n 11.<\/strong> God in His just judgment withdraws Himself from apostates.<\/p>\n 12. <\/strong>God gives up apostates to their corruptions, and to the power of the devil. Oh, stand with all your might against the beginning of sin; tremble, and stop on the threshold! (Jeremiah Burroughs.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Sinning more and more<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>The start in life is fair and promising.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>There is a wish to be a man before the age of manhood has been reached.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>There is an aversion to religion, and an appetite for what is evil.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>There is indulgence in vicious habits.<\/p>\n 5. <\/strong>There is the silencing of all the remonstrances of conscience.<\/p>\n 6. <\/strong>There is the defiance of irreligion and immorality. (G. Brooks.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n And have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsman. Idols wholly human productions<\/strong><\/p>\n The emphasis is where you would not expect it to be; it is upon the words all of it. There is not one sacred spot in any idol; there is not one faint signature of the living God upon anything that man has made with his own hands to worship; it is as if eyes of fire had searched the idols through and through, and as if the hands of critics had written their record, and reported in these words: The idol is all base, all dross, all material; all of it is the work of the hands of craftsmen. Men cannot step from the finite to the infinite. A finite creature cannot make an infinite idol. Whatever is made is less than the maker. If a man has made a god, he is greater than the god he has made. To have genius and power to make it is to have another genius and power equal to condemn it. Men get tired of what they halve made. Ambition may arise and say, Make a better; then comes the displacement of the former god, amid every sign and token of contempt. These words should be cried out poignantly, bitterly, sarcastically. A man is standing before the idol, and he has gone through it atom by atom, so to speak, lineament by lineament, and he says at the end–all of it there is not one speck of heavenly gold in all this handful of earthly rubbish. They say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves. It was said in Israel concerning the calves, These be thy gods, O Israel. To kiss was in the ancient times a sign of homage, either human or Divine. Men kissed their gods. When they could not kiss their gods, as, for example, in the instance of the heavenly bodies, they kissed their fingers, and waved their kissed hands to the objects of worship. The Divine Being does not hesitate to accept this action, and give it its highest meaning, hence in the Second Psalm there is one who says, Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way. That man should have descended to kiss a god of his own making is the consummation of weakness, and the very climax of ignorance and blasphemy. All this happened in ancient times. That is true, but all this happens letter for letter to-day. Man cannot get beyond the tether of his race. It is man that is tethered; not a man, some man, a particular and dying man, but humanity. We are all in one condemnation; the act of homage has not ceased, the object of desire may have changed. Men live in circumstances, and are lost in details, and therefore it is probable that they may imagine if they have substituted some other object for the calves of Israel, therefore they have left the old idolatry. That is not so. If a man be trusting to his own right arm, he is as great an idolater as any that ever lived in Israel. Whoso says he has money enough to keep out the difficulties of time, the slaves of want, and therefore he need not concern himself with providence in any spiritual or metaphysical sense, is as much an idolater as he who in uncivilised lands bows down to stock or stone, or lifts eyes of wondering ignorance to <\/strong>the blue heavens that he may fix them upon something of which he will make the image of a god. Yet all these heathen practices admit of the highest applications. Let no man reject nature, it is Gods handiwork; no craftsman made the sun; no hireling servant set the stars in their places. If any poor heart, iii at ease, should pick out some fair-faced star and say, Be thou god to me, it might be the beginning of a higher religion, the truer and nobler faith. These are mysteries, and are not to be spoken about scornfully. He does not know the human heart who says to men who know no better, that idolatry is a sin. It was a sin in Israel, because it involved backsliding from the true God; but find a man in a savage land who has never heard of God or Christ, and to whom the words, father, mother, brother, sister, carry no dew of blessing, no colour of poetry, no suggestion of wider and eternal fellowships–find a man there clinging to but a handful of mud in the expectation that there is something in it that can help him, and it is no sin: it should be the business of those who know better to, teach him better: let what he has seized be the alphabet out of which to make words, and music, and wisdom. (Joseph Parker, D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The gold god<\/strong><\/p>\n I <\/em>was travelling recently with an old Jewish merchant, who had commenced his career in a Western city fifty years ago, and who has been accumulating money all these years until he is now a millionaire, though as hot in the chase for the dollars as in his younger years. His whole thought and being seemed absorbed in the matter of getting money. He told me his wife was very different from himself; she was fond of music and books and art. She came to me the other day, said he, with a book on astronomy in her hands, and said: Jacob, there is going to be a new star; let me read to you about, it But, said the old man, I answered her by lifting both hands and exclaiming: Dont bother me, Rebecca! I care more about the price of overalls than about all the stars in the sky. It seemed to me a striking illustration of the power of the moneygetting instinct when given full sway in a mans life to drown out all desire for higher things. (A. Banks, D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n Verse 2<\/span>. And now they sin more and more<\/B><\/I>] They increase in every kind of vice, having abandoned the great Inspirer of virtue.<\/P> <\/P> Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.<\/B><\/I>] This was the test<\/I>. If there be a Jew that pretends to sacrifice, and whose conversion is dubious, let him come openly and kiss the calves<\/I>. This will show what he is; no real<\/I> Jew will do this. If he be an idolater<\/I>, he will not scruple. This was the ancient method of adoration<\/I>.<\/P> 1. They kissed<\/I> the idol.<\/P> 2. When the statue was too high or too far off, they presented the hand, in token of alliance.<\/P> 3. They brought that hand respectfully to their mouths, and kissed it.<\/P> This was the genuine act of adoration; from ad, to<\/I>, and os, oris<\/I>, the mouth<\/I>. So PLINY, Hist. Nat<\/I>., lib. xxviii., c. 1. Adorando, dexteram ad oscula referimus.<\/P> <\/P> And APULEIUS, Asin<\/I>., lib. iv.: Admoventes oribus suis dexteram, ut ipsam prorsus deam religiosis adorationibus venerabantur. See Calmet<\/I>, and See Clarke on Job 31:17<\/span>.<\/P> <\/p>\n And now, <\/B>though they are admonished, threatened, and in part punished, yet now that Baal is taken in for a god and worshipped, <\/P> they sin more and more; <\/B>they go on to sin, and add new idolatries to the old, they increase the number of their sins; in some respect their new sins are greater than those committed formerly, but the prophet here speaks not of greatness of sins, but the number. <\/P> And have made them molten images of their silver:<\/B> these were the figures and representations of the gods they worshipped, and were multiplied as families, able to go to the cost, did multiply; every one got their household gods. heathen like, and most of these puppets were made of silver. Or the phrase may imply, that at their own charge these people made them gods; so though it was a straight ash, or wood that would not soon putrefy, which was formed into the idol, yet because bought with their silver it may by a metonymy be called their silver. <\/P> Idols according to their own understanding; <\/B>every one as he fancied, as he thought most comely, and proper to represent a deity; perhaps these idolaters vied with each other who should have the handsomest god, as Ahaz would vie altars, and therefore made new ones. Perhaps some of these idolaters melted down their old less handsome gods to run them into more pleasing features. <\/P> All of it the work of the craftsmen; <\/B>whatever is of the image is of the workman, who gave it shape, but could not give it breath, still it is a lifeless lump or image. <\/P> They, <\/B>either the kings of Israel, or the priests of these idols, or the people, say of them, of the idols, <\/P> Let the men that sacrifice, <\/B>let every one that sacrificeth, all that bring their offerings to these idols, <\/P> kiss; <\/B>reverence, worship, or adore, and show they do so by kissing the calves. They will make them give full worship to their idols. <\/P> <\/p>\n 2. according to their ownunderstanding<\/B>that is, their arbitrary devising. Compare”will-worship,” Col 2:23<\/span>.Men are not to be “wise above that which is written,” or tofollow their own understanding, but God’s command in worship. <\/P> kiss the calves<\/B>an actof adoration to the golden calves (compare 1Ki 19:18<\/span>;Job 31:27<\/span>; Psa 2:12<\/span>).<\/P><\/p>\n And now they sin more and more<\/strong>,…. Since the times of Jeroboam, and also of Ahab, adding other deities to the calves, and to Baal, as follows; increasing the number of their idols, and their idolatrous sacrifices, rites, and ceremonies: this they did in the times the prophet, who prophesied after the times of as it is common with evil men and seducers to wax worse and worse, and to proceed to more ungodliness, and from evil to evil; such is the way of idolaters, they stop not, but run into greater absurdities and grosser idolatries:<\/p>\n and have made them molten images of their silver<\/strong>: which is to be understood, not of the calves, or of Baal, made of gold, which they purchased with their silver; but of other images they had in their houses, or carried about with them, made of their silver, of their plate, which they melted and cast images of it, of whatsoever shape or form they pleased:<\/p>\n [and] idols according to their own understanding<\/strong>; which were entirely of man’s device, and had nothing divine in them, either as to matter or form, but wholly the invention of the human brain; or, “according to their own likeness”, as the Targum, and so other Jewish interpreters; after the form of a man, and yet were so weak and stupid as to account them gods:<\/p>\n all of it the work of the craftsmen<\/strong>; of silversmiths and founders, and such like artificers; the same, or of the same sort, with the craftsmen that made shrines for Diana, Ac 19:24<\/span>; and therefore such a work, wrought by such hands, could never be a deity, or have anything divine in it; they must be as stupid and senseless as the work itself to imagine there should: and yet<\/p>\n they say of them<\/strong>; the false prophets, or the idolatrous priests, say of such idols:<\/p>\n let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves<\/strong>: let those that bring their sacrifices, or those that offer them, pay religious worship and adoration to the calves; which they signified by kissing the idols they sacrificed to, either their mouths, or their hands; or, if out of their reach, they kissed their own hands in token of honour to them; which rites were commonly used among the Heathens. Cicero s says at Agrigentum, where was a temple or Hercules, where the people not only used to show a veneration to his image by prayers and thanksgivings, but they used to kiss it. So Apuleius t speaks of a beautiful virgin, the report of whose beauty brought together a vast number of citizens and strangers; who, amazed at the sight of her, put their right hand to then mouths, the first finger resting upon the thumb erect, and gave her reverence with religious adoration, as if she had been the goddess Venus herself; and Minutius Felix u says of Caecilius, that, observing the image of Serapis (probably much like one of these calves), putting his hand to his mouth, according to the superstitious custom of the common people, with his lips smacked a kiss; and so Pliny w observes, in worshipping, the right hand is used for a kiss, turning about the whole body, which to do to the left was reckoned the more religious; hence it is observed x of Aemilius, a derider of and scoffer at things divine, that he would never make supplication to any god, nor frequent any temple; and if he passed by any place of worship, he reckoned it a crime to put his hand to his lips by way of adoration, or on account of that; and it seems to have obtained as early as the times of Job among idolatrous people, that, upon the sight of the sun or moon, they immediately with their mouth kissed their hands; see<\/p>\n Job 31:26<\/span>; hence Lucian y, speaking of the Indians, says, rising early in the morning, they worship the sun, not as we, who think the prayers are finished when the hand is kissed; and Tertullian z, addressing the Heathens in his time, thus bespeaks them, most of you, out of an affectation of worshipping the celestial bodies at the rising of the sun, move and quaver your lips; hence kissing is used for the worship of the Son of God, Ps 2:12<\/span>. Some read the words, “let those that sacrifice a man a kiss the calves”; as if it respected the abominable practice of sacrificing men to Moloch; or intimated that men were sacrificed to the calves at Bethel.<\/p>\n s In Verrem, l. 4. Orat. 9. c. 13. t Metamorphos. sive de Asino Auero, l. 4. p. 60. u Octavius, p. 2. w Nat. Hist. l. 28. c. 2. x Apuleii Apolog. p. 226. y . z Apolog. c. 16. a “immolatores hominem, [vel] immolantes homines”, Vatablus; “sacrificantes hominem”, Montanus, Calvin, Schmidt; so some in Abenda. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin render it as an imperative, “sacrifice men”; and the Syriac version, “O ye that sacrifice men”.<\/p>\n In this verse the Prophet amplifies the wickedness of the people, and says, that they had not only in one day cast aside the pure worship of God, and entangled themselves in superstitions; but that they had been obstinate in their own depravity. They have added, he says, to their sin, and have made a molten thing of their silver When Israel, as we have said, departed from the worship of God, they made calves, and made them under a specious appearance; but when many superstitions were added, one after another, there was, as it were, an accumulation of madness, as if the Israelites designedly wished to subvert the law of God, and to show that they cared nothing for the only true God, by whom they had been redeemed. This is the reason why the Prophet says that they made progress in wickedness, and observed no moderation in sinning, and this is what usually happens, unless God draws men back. As soon as they fall away, they rush headlong into evil; for they take a greater liberty in sinning, after they have turned their back on God. <\/p>\n Hence this reproof of the Prophet ought to be noticed, for he inveighs against the obstinate wickedness of Israel; and says, that they made for themselves of their silver a molten thing As we have seen above, they abused the gifts of God by devoting to superstition what the Lord had destined for their use. The end for which God has bestowed silver, we know, is, that men may carry on commerce with one another, and apply it also to other useful purposes. But when they make to themselves gods of silver, there is an astonishing stupidity in their ingratitude, for they pervert the order of nature, and forget that silver is given for another end, and that is as we have said for their use. The Prophet at the same time intimates, that the Israelites were less excusable, inasmuch as when they were enriched, they became proud of their wealth. Satiety, we know, is the cause of wantonness, as, it will be shortly stated again. <\/p>\n But what the Prophet adds ought to be especially observed, According to their own understanding Here he severely reproves the Israelites, because they had not subordinated all their thoughts to God, but, on the contrary, followed what pleased themselves. It was then according to their own invention The word which the Prophet uses is not unsuitable, though “understanding,” the word which the Prophet adopts, is among the Hebrews taken in a good sense. But what is treated of here is the worship of God, with respect to which all the prudence, all the reason, all the wisdom of men, and, in short, all their senses, ought to be suspended: for if, in this case, they of themselves adopt any thing, be it ever so little, they inevitably vitiate the worship of God. How so? Because obedience, we know, is better than all sacrifices. This then is the rule, as to the right worship of God, — that men must become foolish, that they must not allow themselves to be wise, but that they are only to give ear to God, and to follow what he commands. But when men’s presumption intrudes, so that they devise a new mode of worship, they then depart from the true God, and worship mere idols. The Prophet then by the word, understanding, condemns here whatever pleases the judgement and reason of men; as though he said, “The true rule of religion, as to the worship of God, is, that nothing human is to be mingled, that no one is to bring forward what is his own, or what seems good to himself.” In short, the understanding of men is here opposed to the command of God; as though the Prophet said, “One great difference between the true worship of God and all fictitious and degenerated modes of worship, is obedience to the word of God; if we be wise according to our own judgement, all we do is corrupt.” How so? Because whatever men devise of themselves is a pollution of divine worship. Hence Paul, in Col 2:0<\/span>, (90) refutes all the fancies of men by this one argument, “They are,” he says, “the traditions of men, though they may have the show of wisdom.” <\/p>\n We now apprehend what the Prophet meant, and why he added the word “understanding;” it was, that the Israelites might learn, that all the worship which was in use among them, was perverted and vicious; for it was not founded on the command of God, but flowed from a different source, even the understanding of men. It then follows, as we have said before, that in religion nothing is to be attempted by us, but we are to follow this one law in worshipping God — simply to obey his word. <\/p>\n He afterwards adds, Idols, the work of artificers altogether The Prophet, in the second place, derides the grossness which had fascinated the minds of the people, as they worshipped in the place of God the works of men. For it is usual with all the Prophets, in order to render the stupidity of men as it were palpable, to show that it is wholly unreasonable to worship idols; for a material cannot with any propriety be worshipped. When there is before us a great mass or a great heap of gold or silver, no one imagines that there is in it any divinity: when one passes through a wood, he transfers not to trees the glory due to God; and the same may be said of stones. But when the hand of the artificer is applied, the plate of gold begins to be a god; so also the trunk of a tree seems to put on the glory of God, when it receives a certain form from the workman; and the same is the case with other things. Now it is extremely absurd to suppose that an artificer, as soon as he has hewn some wood, or as soon as he has melted gold or silver, can make a god, and convey divinity to a dead thing; and yet it is well known that this is thought everywhere to be the case. Superstitious men allege in excuse, that this does not proceed from the hand of the artificer, but that as they wish for some sign of God’s presence, and as they cannot otherwise set forth what God is, God is in that form. But this still remains true, that workmen by their skill make gods of lifeless things, to which no honour can belong. Since it is so, the Prophet now justly says, that what the people of Israel worshipped was the work of artifices; and he said this, that they might know that they became shamefully foolish, when they left the true God, the Creator of heaven and earth, and prostrated themselves before idols made by hands. <\/p>\n But he adds, that they say to one another while they sacrifice men, Let them kiss the calves (91) Though this place is in various ways explained, I am yet content with the obvious meaning of the Prophet. He again derides them for exhorting one another to worship the calf: For by kissing he means by a figure a profession of worship or adoration, as it is evident from other parts of Scripture. It is said in 1 Kings, (92) I have preserved for myself seven thousand men, who have not bent the knee before Baal, nor kissed him. To kiss Baal then was a sign of reverence. And this practice, we see, has been retained by the superstitious, as the case is at this day with the Papists, who observe this special custom of kissing their idols. But what does the Prophet now say? They encourage one another, he says, in the worship of the calves, and in the meantime “they sacrifice men”. The Prophet doubtless condemns here that abominable and savage custom of parents sacrificing their children to Moloch. It was utterly repugnant to the feeling of nature for parents to immolate their own children. For though this was once commanded to Abraham, we yet know that the design was, that God intended by this proof to try the obedience of his servant: but Abraham was not at last suffered to do what he purposed. <\/p>\n They then immolated men. If it was right to sacrifice men, surely such a service ought to have been rendered at least to the only true God. If it was lawful to sacrifice man for the sake of man, it was certainly ridiculous to do so to conciliate the calf; and it was especially strange, when parents hesitated not to appease dead statues by the blood of their children. This absurdity then the Prophet now points out as with the finger, that he might try to make the Israelites ashamed of their base conduct. “See,” he says, “how brutish ye are; for ye immolate to the calves and kiss them, and more still, ye sacrifice men. Is there so much worthiness in the calf, that man, who far excels it, must be killed before it? Is not this wholly inconsistent with every thing like reason?” We now understand what the Prophet meant. They say then one to another, while they immolate men, Let them kiss the calves <\/p>\n But we learn from this and similar places, that we ought to notice those absurdities in which wretched men involve themselves, when they are lost in their own devices, after having left the word of God: for this word is to be to us as a bridle to keep us from going astray with them in their monstrous devices; for when we observe these delirious things which even nature itself abhors, it is evident that God thereby restrains and preserves us as it were by his outstretched hand. With this design the Prophet now shows how stupid the Israelites were, and how prodigious was their frenzy when they kissed the calves with great reverence, and also sacrificed men. So at this day with respect to those under the Papacy, we ought not only to adopt this argument, that they departed from the true God when they sought for themselves new and strange modes of worship, without the warrant of his word, but we ought also to bear in mind that their puerilities are to be ascribed to the same cause. And we see how God has given them up to a reprobate mind, so that they throw aside no kinds of absurdities. And this consideration, as I have said, will serve to awaken those who are as yet healable, when they understand that they have been infatuated; having been in this manner admonished, they may return to the right way. And that we ourselves may give thanks to God, and detest more and more that filth in which we were for a time involved, and remember that there is nothing more to be dreaded than that the Lord should allow us loose reins, the very example of his vengeance as to all idolaters is made known to us; for as soon as they departed from the pure worship of God, they gave themselves up, as we have stated, to the most shameful stupidity. Let us proceed — <\/p>\n (90) Col 2:22<\/span>. — fj. <\/p>\n (91) ‘Let the sacrificers of men kiss the calves.’ — Horsley. <\/p>\n (92) 1Kg 19:18<\/span>. — fj. <\/p>\n (2) Ewald, following the hint of the LXX. (who had a slightly different text), renders according to their pattern of idols. (Comp. the language of satire in Psalms 115<\/span>; Isa. 44:10-17<\/span>.)<\/p>\n Men that sacrifice<\/strong>.More accurately, sacrificers from among men.<\/em> Others would render sacrificers of men. But the former is quite consistent with Hebrew usage, while the latter compels us to adopt the unwarrantable supposition that human sacrifices formed part of the calf-worship. The calf images were kissed ike those of the Madonna in Roman Catholic churches at the present day. The Greek , <\/em>to worship, meant originally to adore by kissing (Curtius, Greek Etymology,<\/em> p. 158).<\/p>\n ‘And now they sin more and more,<\/p>\n And have made for themselves molten images from their silver,<\/p>\n Even idols according to their own understanding,<\/p>\n All of them the work of the craftsmen.<\/p>\n They say of them,<\/p>\n “Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves.”<\/p>\n And they had continued to sin more and more, making themselves 1) molten images of silver, 2) idols which were derived from their own inventiveness, 3) idols which had been made by men’s hands, and which they had the encouraged men to kiss.<\/p>\n The descriptions bring out the folly of their position. The images were made from their own silver, they were inventions of their own minds, they were made with their own hands, and they could be kissed or not as men chose. They were ‘made in Israel’, from Israelite raw material, using Israel’s skilled workmen. And yet they bowed down to them. What folly! And then they even went so far as to persuade MEN to kiss CALVES! Had it not been true it would have been seen as incredible. And this was in direct disobedience to YHWH’s command that they should have no other gods before Him (Hos 13:4<\/span>; compare Exo 20:3<\/span>) and should not make graven images and bow down to them (Hos 11:2<\/span>; compare Exo 20:4<\/span>).<\/p>\n No doubt many Israelites would have claimed that when they bowed down to the calves and kissed them they saw themselves as worshipping YHWH and only ‘venerating’ the calves, but God knew that in their hearts it was a demeaned YHWH that they were thinking of, Who was being imagined as a nature god. By it they were stripping God of His unique deity.<\/p>\n Hos 13:2<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves<\/em><\/strong><\/strong> Or it should rather be rendered, Let the sacrificers of men kiss the calves. <\/em>It appears from this passage, that superstition and idolatry had made such a progress among the ten tribes, that human sacrifices were made an essential rite in the worship of the calves. And this was the finishing stroke, the last stage of their impiety; that they said Let the sacrificers of men kiss the calves: <\/em>let them consider themselves as the most acceptable worshippers, who approach the image with human blood. Kiss the calves; <\/em>that is to say, worship the calves. <\/em>Among the ancient idolaters, to kiss the idol was an act of the most solemn adoration. Thus we read in Holy Writ of all the knees which have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. <\/em>Tully mentions a brazen statue of Hercules at Agrigentum, in which the workmanship of the mouth was sensibly worn by the frequent kisses of the worshippers. And in allusion to this rite, the holy Psalmist, calling upon the apostate faction to avert the wrath of the incarnate God by full acknowledgment of his divinity, bids them kiss the Son; <\/em>that is to say, worship him. <\/p>\n It may seem extraordinary, that we find it no where mentioned in the sacred history by whom the practice was introduced of sacrificing men to the calves, the pretended emblems of the true God. But this would appear an objection of no great weight to the interpretation I have given of the prophet’s words, which is the only one, I think, that they will naturally bear; if the prevalence of the practice were of necessity implied in the words of the prophet so interpreted. But it is possible, that the calves themselves were never so worshipped; but that the zeal for idolatry was so great with some of the latter kings, that they made it a condition upon which alone they would tolerate the worship of Jehovah in the calves, that the worshipper should join in the offering of human sacrifices to Moloch, or some other idol. For if any of the kings of Israel issued an edict of toleration, under such a condition; he said, in effect, “Let the sacrificers of men kiss the calves.” It is true, no such measure is mentioned in the sacred history. But the silence of the history is certainly no confutation of any thing, to which the prophets clearly allude as a fact. For the history of the kingdom of Israel, under the different usurpers, after the fall of Zedekiah, the son of the second Jeroboam, is so concise and general, that we know little of the detail of it, but what is to be gathered from allusions. We have the names of the kings in succession, the length of their reigns, and their principal exploits. But we know nothing of the particulars, but what we gather from the prophets, or from the more circumstantial history of the collateral reigns in the kingdom of Judah; insomuch that human victims may have been offered to the calves, or the wor-shippers of the calves may have been compelled to dip their hands in the blood of Moloch’s victims; though no evidence of either practice remains, but this allusion of the prophet Hosea; which leaves some degree of doubt between the two. Sacrifices to the calves themselves seem to me the more probable object of the allusion. <\/p>\n When it is recollected, that Solomon himself built a temple to Moloch, and that Ahab introduced the worship of the Tyrian Baal in the kingdom of Samaria, and that both these idols were appeased with infant blood; there is too much reason to believe, that the practice must have begun early in both kingdoms; although it probably was late before it came to a height in either. And yet the first mention of it, in the history of the kingdom of Samaria, is when the sacred writer closes that history, with an enumeration of the crimes which provoked the judgment of God, and brought on its ruin, 2Ki 17:17<\/span>. Nevertheless, it is certain, that this abominable custom was of older date, and perhaps of not much older date, in the kingdom of Samaria, than in that of Judah. For, in the kingdom of Judah, Ahaz is the first king, of whom we read that he adopted the practice. And it is mentioned, as one of the things in which he followed the example of the kings of Israel;Ahazdid not that which was right in the sight of Jehovah, like David his father. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, insomuch that he passed his son through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, <\/em>&c. See 2Ki 16:2-3<\/span>. <\/p>\n Upon the whole, it may be concluded with certainty, from this text of Hosea, that, in the latter period of the monarchy of the ten tribes, the practice of human sacrifices came to such a height, and was so much countenanced by the kings and rulers, that it was either enjoined as an essential in the worship even of the calves; or required of their worshippers, with regard to other idols, as the only condition upon which even that shadow of the true worship would be tolerated. The time when this took place cannot be determined with certainty; I think it must have been as early as the reign of Menahem; for, from the expressions in 2Ki 16:3<\/span> we may gather, that Ahaz had the example of more kings of Israel than one or two, for the detestable rites which he introduced among his own subjects. <\/p>\n Hos 13:2 And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, [and] idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.<\/p>\n Ver. 2. And now they sin more and more<\/strong> ] Heb. They add to sin: God in his just judgment hath given them up unto hardness of mind, and to their heart’s lust; that for all this sudden change they repent not, but run more and more into idolatry. Not content to worship Baal and such heathen deities, <\/p>\n <\/p>\n They make them molten images of their silver<\/strong> ] They laid their money together, to make the golden calves, or silver shrines, as Act 19:24<\/span> , and other idolatrous trinkets; they lavished silver out of the bag, and were at no small charge. They multiplied their altars, Hos 10:1<\/span> , and abused God’s gold and silver to mystical adultery, Hos 2:8<\/span> . All this they did now, saith the text; most unseasonably, and as it were in flat opposition to God; after he had sought to reclaim them both by counsels and corrections, and had hanged Ahab and his house up in gibbets, as it were, before them, for their admonition. Surely it is a just both presage and desert of ruin not to be warned. See Hos 7:1<\/span> . See Trapp on “<\/em> Hos 7:1 “<\/em> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n And idols according to their own understanding<\/strong> ] i.e.<\/em> According to their own inventions, motu suo roprio; <\/em> forsaking the rule of the word, they will needs be scholars to their own reason, though they are sure to have a fool to their master. That is a good saying of Solomon, Pro 3:5<\/span> , “Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding,” in matters of God’s worship especially; for there Deus damnat quicquid arridet iudicio hominum vel rationi<\/em> God despises whatever is pleasing in the opinion of men or reason. (Calv. in loc.), “that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God,” Luk 16:15<\/span> . <\/p>\n <\/p>\n All of it the work of the craftsmen<\/strong> ] And should men worship the work of their own hands? what can be imagined more irrational and sottish? But it is a most righteous recompense of their error, Rom 1:27<\/span> . See Isa 29:13-14<\/span> , God doth blind and blast such, causing their madness to appear to all, and that they are men compact of mere incongruities, soloecising in opinion, speeches, actions, all: nothing is more irrational than irreligion. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n They say of it, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves<\/strong> ] They, that is, the king and his counsellors, or the idolatrous priests by their appointment. These were active to invite and incite men to partake of those idolatrous services. Should we be less diligent in calling upon others to “kiss the Son,” with a kiss of love and homage? should we not be as serious and sedulous in building staircases for heaven as the wicked are in digging descents to hell? <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kiss the calves<\/strong> ] That the custom of kissing in divine worship was used in all nations is evident. They kissed either the idol’s mouth or their own hand (where the idol stood on high, so that they could not come at it) in token of homage. See 1Ki 19:18 Job 31:27<\/span> . ( Adorare est quasi applicare manum ad os.<\/em> ) To wordship is just as to bring the hand to the mouth. So (after the example of Dioclesian) the pope holds forth his foot to be kissed by the greatest potentates, while he sitteth as God, in the temple of God.<\/p>\n understanding = notion. <\/p>\n of them = to them: i.e. to the People. <\/p>\n kiss the calves. Kissing was fundamental in all heathen idolatry. It is the root of the Latin ad-orare = to [bring something to] the mouth. “A pure lip” (Zep 3:9) implies more than language. <\/p>\n now: Num 32:14, 2Ch 28:13, 2Ch 33:23, Isa 1:5, Isa 30:1, Rom 2:5, 2Ti 3:13 <\/p>\n sin more and more: Heb. add to sin <\/p>\n have made: Hos 2:8, Hos 8:4, Hos 10:1, Psa 115:4-8, Isa 46:6, Jer 10:4, Hab 2:18, Hab 2:19 <\/p>\n according: Hos 11:6, Psa 135:17, Psa 135:18, Isa 44:17-20, Isa 45:20, Isa 46:8, Jer 10:8, Rom 1:22-25 <\/p>\n the men that sacrifice: or, the sacrificers of men <\/p>\n kiss: 1Sa 10:1, 1Ki 19:18, Psa 2:12, Rom 11:4 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Exo 32:4 – calf Deu 27:15 – maketh 2Ki 10:29 – the golden calves 2Ch 11:15 – for the calves Job 31:27 – my mouth hath kissed my hand Psa 78:58 – with Isa 2:8 – worship Isa 7:10 – Moreover Isa 17:8 – the work Hos 4:17 – Ephraim Hos 10:5 – the calves Hos 11:2 – they sacrificed Amo 2:6 – For three Amo 8:14 – sin<\/p>\n Hos 13:2. Baal was one of the invisible gods that the idolaters worshiped which was foolish enough, but God accused them of sinning more and more. That was because they were not content to serve a god that was invisible, and in that respect was like the true God, but went further and served the gods of their own making. A little reasoning should have shown them the folly of depending upon a god of human origin, for such a thing could not possibly possess any more power than a human being.<\/p>\n Hos 13:2. And now they sin more and more They did not content themselves with worshipping the golden calves only, which they made to be symbols of Jehovah the true God, but made themselves images of various idols after the manner of the heathen nations; which were nothing more than merely pieces of handicraft work. They at first worshipped Jehovah under the images of the golden calves, but at last they came to worship the mere images themselves. Thus do men sink deeper and deeper into vice, folly, and ignorance, whenever they depart from the right way! Instead of, according to their own understanding, Bishop Horsley reads, In their great wisdom they made themselves images, &c., considering the words as spoken ironically. They say of them Of the idols; Let the men that sacrifice, kiss the calves Let all that bring their offerings to these idols worship and adore, and show they do so by kissing the calves. Among the ancient idolaters, to kiss the idol was an act of the most solemn adoration. Thus we read, 1Ki 19:18, of all the knees which have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. And so Job describes the adoration which the idolaters of his time paid to the heavenly bodies, Job 31:27. Tully mentions a brazen statue of Hercules at Agrigentum, in which the workmanship of the mouth was sensibly worn by the frequent kisses of the worshippers. And, in allusion to this rite, the holy psalmist, calling upon the apostate faction to avert the wrath of the incarnate God, by a full acknowledgment of his divinity, bids them kiss the Son, that is, worship him.<\/p>\n 13:2 And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, [and] idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, {d} Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.<\/p>\n (d) “Let the men that sacrifice” or “while they sacrifice men”. The false prophets persuaded the idolaters to offer their children after the example of Abraham, and he shows how they would exhort one another to the same, and to kiss and worship these calves which were their idols.<\/p>\n The Ephraimites, and the other Israelites, had continued to sin more and more by making molten images and carved idols of silver (cf. Exo 20:4-5; Exo 34:17; Deu 5:8-9). They took great pains to make beautiful idols by employing skilled craftsmen for their construction. They also required that those who made sacrifices to them profess their devotion and homage by kissing the images. The NIV translation "they offer human sacrifice" is literally "sacrificers of men kiss calves." Human sacrifice is not in view here. There is no other indication that the Israelites practiced human sacrifice at Bethel or Dan. The idea is that those among the people (men) who sacrificed to idols kissed the images. How doubly ironical it was that they should worship things that they had created and that they should kiss images of animals!<\/p>\n And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, [and] idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves. 2. And now, &c.] The present race is no better; they go … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 13:2”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22279\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\nFuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"